Deep Dropping In The Straits
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Aces
Well-Known Member
On the lip of Clayoquot Canyon in 600-650' of water
I've read industry studies that opine that biomass of halibut in SoG isn't there and probably never has been, at least not enough to support a commercial fishery. I understand that some deepwater areas of the Straight are low in oxygen too, so not much living there.
Never the less, I'm curious as to what you do catch that's isn't a dogfish.
Never the less, I'm curious as to what you do catch that's isn't a dogfish.
Tinny
Well-Known Member
I'm surprised there isn't a halibut fishery of the mouth of the Fraser in October/November as a bunch of spawned out salmon get disgorged from the river. Or maybe the hali's are there and nobody targets them?
There is the odd story of hali's getting caught around Bowen Island by guys trolling for salmon along the bottom. But they probably move around a lot and probably not there year round. Or maybe they are in smaller numbers?
There is the odd story of hali's getting caught around Bowen Island by guys trolling for salmon along the bottom. But they probably move around a lot and probably not there year round. Or maybe they are in smaller numbers?
greenhornet
Active Member
Yes Ive been rigging Herring and mackerel backwards for years, luckily I was shown that by a crafty ol veteran hali fisherman and it works awesome.build yourself a stainless rod 15 in long or so drill a hole in the end, thats your threading needle.shove your needle up its butt and out its mouth, thread your line through the hole and pull back till your hook is in its mouth with the point outside the head slide another hook down the line put it through the herring make a few wraps with the mono under the eye of the hook and put a clear tube down and over the eye of the hook to hold the wraps on. seems like a big process buttony takes 30 seconds then your ready to rock.Good luck
tight lines
Billydoo
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
The straight was fishout pre 1890
EXPLOITATION AND DEPLETION OF SOUTHERN GROUNDS EXPANSION OF GROUNDS, 1888 TO 1910
In studying the further expansion of the grounds fished it is important to realize that this was an economic matter. The extent of the coast over which halibut were found was well known from the very beginning. Cook had found them, in 1778, at the Shumagins (32); La Perouse at Lituya Bay (19) in 1786; Dixon at Yakutat (20) in 1789; and numerous other observers at various points. The extensive use by Indians from Puget Sound north and west, even along the Aleutians (36), was known before 1888. Bean (1879, pp. 63-66) records halibut at St. Michaels, Bering Sea. Trials had been made along the Oregon Coast (1). Indeed, mention is made of halibut off Cape Mendocino, where there were too many sharks and dogfish for profitable fishing. The first trip shipped to the East came from Cape Flattery, where the Indians had fished from "time immemorial." The "Mollie Adams" and "Oscar and Hattie" had fished halibut for fletching in the vicinity of the Queen Charlottes and as far north as Sitka (17). The records of the Bureau of Fisheries steamer "Albatross," in 1888, during its exploration of the Pacific banks, show that halibut were fairly abundant along the Aleutian Islands, some being taken occasionally in Bristol Bay. They were recorded by officers of the same vessel .as "scattering" around Middleton Island (23), Kodiak Island (27), and the Shumagin grpup(32). Doubtless they were scattering in comparison to the wealth Of fish found to the southward. The cod fishermen recorded halibut from the banks around Kodiak and in Bering Sea.
PUGET SOUND
Naturally, Puget Sound, closest to the rail communication, was the first frequented by halibut fishermen. Collins, in 1892, gives a map of the location and character of the principal fishing grounds of the State of Washington. He shows, and remarks upon in the text, halibut banks within Puget Sound as far as the south end of Whidbey Island. Others were found at the inner end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, another off Port Angeles, and finally, there were the famous banks off Cap.e Flattery (6), corresponding to what is now known as the Swiftsure Bank (see also Jordan, 1887, p. 629). These banks were sufficient to provide a local supply before 1888, there being, for instance, as has been previously said, about forty fishermen landing fresh fish, largely halibut, in Port Townsend. These men had small sloops and rarely went any distance. That halibut were to be found in Georgia Strait in 1889 is indicated by the quotations from Samuel Chesebro. Halibut were reported as taken "at Plumper's Pass" near Victoria in 1888. The Indians of Neah Bay secured their supply from a bank 10 or 15 miles northwest of Cape Flattery. Even as late as 1905 a considerable quantity of large halibut were recorded as being landed at Bellingham from nearby Puget Sound waters near Hale's Pass. At the present very little, if any, is taken from these grounds,but it is obvious from the early history of the fishery that there were considerable quantities of halibut throughout even such sheltered waters as Puget Sound proper. It has been said repeatedly that halibut were not to be found on the banks off Cape Flattery except during the summer months. But it is certain that this is not true, for as soon as the proper type of boat was developed, and as soon as there came to be an e
DEPLETION
Up to the year 1909 or 1910 the process of development in all sections of the coast had been that of the gradual development of a knowledge of the local banks, their successive exploitation, and in each case, the development of a suitable and characteristic fishing fleet. But at the same time there had been going on another process, that of depletion. The fish in protected waters were becoming scarcer and scarcer. They had largely disappeared from Puget Sound. The famous fishing banks such as Rose Spit (13) and Hecate Strait (11-13) were so completely cleaned of halibut that it did not pay to frequent them as formerly, especially in the larger vessels. The steamer "New England" alone landed 1,600,000 pounds of halibut during six months of the season 1898-99.
This process of depletion may be described as follows. From 1904 to 1905 fishing seemed to be at its peak, several more boats having entered the field. Some of the best fishing grounds began to show a decline, both in quantity and size. Whenever a new spot was discovered, there would be a considerable number of gray (discolored) and poor fish caught. In some places the percentage was as high as 10. After a short period of fishing on these grounds, there would be scarcely any gray left, and a much smaller avera,ge size would be obtained; until, at some places, the fish, while fairly plentiful, would be so small that they were not worth fishing for. At this particular time there was no market for these small fish. This went on for four or five years before the catches lessened very much, but the trips got longer, more gear, bait and ice were required, and the number of fishing days per trip increased. This depletion was reflected in official reports. From 1900 on, the question of poaching by American vessels had engaged the attention of Canadian authorities because of the belief that Canadian waters were being exploited, and that they should be reserved for Canadian citizens.. The Canadian Government Reports state repeatedly that halibut were becoming scarce in Hecate Strait, that in 1909 and 1910 the fishermen had practically deserted the mainland harbors and now frequented the north end of the Queen Charlotte Islands (13), and the banks between Skidegate (12), and Cape St. James (11). For the first time they were reported working along the West Coast of Vancouver Island. The Report of the Bureau of Fisheries for 1912 says that it is recognized that the banks were becoming depleted. Captain. Joyce (1913) believed that the shoaler banks were exhausted. These were, however, isolated statements without proof or exact information.
In 1915, the Report of the British Columbia Department of Fisheries publi~hed the results of an investigationG upon the statistics of the halibut fishery, based upon the catches of five halibut steamers operating out of Vancouver and within British Columbia waters. From the logs of these vessels it was possible to obtain the amount of gear fished each day, the locality, and the catch obtained. There was shown to be a shift in the fishing grounds in 1910, for deeper waters were being resorted to, and the banks on the outer coast were being used for the first time. The rate of decline in abundance was shown to be such that the formerly productive banks were losing 75 per cent of their fish each decade. This decline was reflected in the length of voyages, in the fishing time, in the decline in average size of the fish, and the decreased size of the cargoes. The impoverishment of the banks was evident in every phase of the fishery. There could be no denial of the seriousness of the situation.
Sangstercraft
Well-Known Member
Also, the industrial exploitation of herring stocks occurred around the same time frame. It would make it more difficult for halibut to recover their habitat if one of the main food fish for halibut was dramatically reduced.
I wonder if we let the herring stocks recover, if the halibut would come back and become a good fishery for the strait.
DFO has conflicting mandates of i) protecting fish stocks and ii) fostering a dying industry. I don't see herring rebounding.
MikePA
Well-Known Member
Incredible
